Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE-Crvena Zvezda
Actually Crvena Zvezda had impressed the local fans with a terrific start whereby the guests had gone to the front (7:8, 9:12); after a time-out asked by Zaksa head coach Daniel Castellani, the young players from Serbia were still able to impose their pace (13:16) before some attacks killed by Antonin Rouzier and terrific blocks by Jurij Gladyr helped Zaksa get back on track. The hosts went to the front at 19:17 and after Nemanja Jakovljevic had called for the 21 all, it was Rouzier who paved the way for the final 25-23 in favor of Zaksa.
The same story was repeated in the second set where Crvena Zvezda jumped out to a 7:3 lead after blocking Marcin Mozdzonek. However, the hosts gradually found their pace again and drew level at 11 all. After this moment, Zaksa controlled the game with ease (16:13, 19:15) and Rouzier anchored his side to the 2:0 that was sealed by Sergii Kapelus (25-19).
After Crvena Zvezda had shortly claimed the lead (3:4), Zaksa gradually imposed its quality and strength in set 3 with Gladyr, Rouzier and Michal Ruciak standing out in offense. Crvena Zvezda started committing mistakes, so Zaksa opened the gap (16:7) and could quickly finish it off for a 3:0 home win (25-14).
“I am happy that my players showed their determination throughout the match. We got a good lesson from our opponents but I am confident that we’ll learn from this experience” says Serbian mentor Dusko Nikolic.
“We played the way we were supposed to do tonight” stresses Daniel Castellani. “We are getting ready for our second match with TOURS VB and we know it is an extremely important fixture. I hope we’ll be able to recover all the players who were recently sidelined by injuries and play our best in France”.
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